$100 in 1958 is worth $197 in 1976,
because prices increased 96.9% over that period, an average of
3.84% a year.
$100 in 1958 has
the same buying power as
$197
in 1976
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
96.9%
Average inflation rate
3.84% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$197
Price difference ($100 base)
$96.89
CPI in 1958
28.9
CPI in 1976
56.9
Inflation in 1958
2.85%
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
$100 in 1958 → 1976
$197
$100 in 1976 → 1958
$50.79
What happened to prices between 1958 and 1976
Between 1958 and 1976, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.9 to 56.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 96.9%, which works out to an average of
3.84% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1958 bought what
$0.51 buys in 1976: the 1958 dollar
lost 49.2% of its purchasing power over
these 18 years.
Consumer prices rose 2.8% in 1958, down only slightly from
1957’s 3.3% even as the country sank into the sharpest
postwar recession to that point, an early sign that inflation and a
shrinking economy could coexist rather than trade off against each other.
The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the downturn’s trough to
that April, with unemployment peaking near 7.5% that summer, the worst
reading since the 1930s. The Post Office raised first-class postage to 4
cents that August 1, up from 3 cents, the rate’s first change since 1932.
Washington answered the Soviet Union’s technological lead that summer
too: Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29,
establishing NASA, which opened for business that October 1 to compete
with the Soviet space program after the shock of Sputnik the year before.
Consumer prices finished 1958 191.9% above their 1913
level. The minimum wage held at $1.00 an hour, and first-class postage
rose to 4 cents that August, the first increase since 1932.
Every 1958 amount converts to 1976 at the same ratio, 1.97: $1,000 becomes
$1,969, and $10,000 becomes $19,689.
Amount in 1958
Value in 1976
$1.00
$1.97
$5.00
$9.84
$10.00
$19.69
$20.00
$39.38
$50.00
$98.44
$100
$197
$500
$984
$1,000
$1,969
$5,000
$9,844
$10,000
$19,689
$100,000
$196,886
$1,000,000
$1,968,858
Inflation by spending category, 1958–1976
Between 1958 and 1976, medical care rose the most, up 152.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 68.6%, against 96.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1958
spending costs in 1976, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1958 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.84%
$197
Medical care
5.28%
$252
Energy
4.20%
$210
Food
4.04%
$204
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.75%
$194
Transportation
3.71%
$193
Apparel
2.94%
$169
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1958: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1958 to 1976
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.59% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.20% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1958–1976 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1958, at end
1958–1960
1.20%
2.4%
$102
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$134
1970–1976
6.59%
46.6%
$197
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1958
$100 from 1958 had already become $116 by
1967, on its way to $197 in 1976; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 11.0% in 1974, and the smallest rise was 0.7% in 1959.
In 1976, prices rose 5.8% and $100 from 1958 had the buying
power of $197; the year's average CPI of 56.9 is the level
behind every 1976 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 5.8% in 1976, the calmest pace since 1972,
as the economy pulled out of the 1973-75 recession and price growth settled
to roughly half its 1974 peak. The recovery gave Americans
room to celebrate: tall ships filled New York Harbor and fireworks lit cities
nationwide on July 4 for the country’s bicentennial, a rare moment of shared
celebration after Vietnam and Watergate. Politically, Jimmy Carter, a former
Georgia governor running as a Washington outsider, defeated incumbent Gerald
Ford that November, campaigning on restoring trust in government and bringing
down inflation and unemployment together. In a California garage, Steve
Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer that April to
sell the Apple I, a bare circuit board aimed at electronics hobbyists, a
business that looked far from consequential at the time. First-class
postage, which had risen to 13 cents that past December 31, held there
through the year, the longest stretch without a rate change since the Postal
Service’s creation. A median household earned $12,686 in 1976, a new home
sold for a median $44,200, and gas averaged 59 cents a gallon. Consumer
prices stood 474.7% above their 1913 level, a calm interlude
before inflation turned back up.
MLA: “Inflation from 1958 to 1976: $100 is worth $197 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1976/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1958 to 1976. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1958-to-1976/